


Spider–Sense

by mrs_leary (julie)



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-10
Updated: 2011-02-10
Packaged: 2017-10-28 09:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie/pseuds/mrs_leary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bradley's minding his own business down the pub one evening, when his spider-sense starts tingling… No doubt Colin Morgan is to blame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spider–Sense

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my dear **tindu** , an itsy–bitsy offering for her birthday. ♥

♦

Bradley was sitting there minding his own business, feeling rather mellow as he reached the end of his second beer, when his spider–sense started tingling…

He froze, darted his eyes left – nothing – and then right – ha! Colin Morgan was sitting there gazing back at Bradley, and that couldn’t be good. Bradley waited through a tense moment, but when Colin didn’t move or say anything, Bradley dared to turn towards him – a tactical move that lost him points for acknowledging the man, but gained him important information.

Not that he really knew what to do with the fact that Colin had slid down in his chair so far he was almost lying back in it, and he was watching Bradley with a long lazy sprawling smile… and after a while of considering each other silently, one corner of Colin’s mouth quirked up.

Bradley shivered. _Something wicked this way comes…_

Colin’s smile broadened, his lips parting just the barest amount, and the man’s eyes seemed to darken with confident intent.

This did not bode well.

‘Uh…’ Bradley started, thinking to fend him off with banter. Getting the first jibe in was almost as vital as delivering the ultimate last riposte. ‘Um…’ Oh this wasn’t good at all.

Colin suddenly sat up, and slid over into the recently vacated seat right beside Bradley. He still wasn’t sitting up straight – he was leaning forward now, loose–limbed and long–curved, his t–shirt clinging to his form as he twisted around towards Bradley.

‘Ur…’ Bradley managed, his heartbeat suddenly thudding up into a higher gear.

That dark warm gaze of Colin’s dropped to Bradley’s mouth for a moment, and then – and then the tip of Colin’s tongue flicked out over his own plump lower lip, moistening it – attention returning with a quizzical glint to meet Bradley’s gaze again, to pin him there, drawing closer. And of course – of course Bradley knew what Colin intended, it was classic, it was classic – every love scene in every movie, every scrap of wisdom about body language, every hard–won pearl of wisdom about Colin Morgan himself, all of these things prepared him – as if Colin was deliberately triggering every single instinct as he drew closer, deliberately making him ready, and Bradley waited there for him, hushed and still, hardly even daring to breathe, and it wasn’t that – it wasn’t that –

He didn’t know where this had come from, but his heart was thumping too big for his chest now, and he didn’t care, he didn’t care about witnesses, he didn’t care about anything – just that dark hot gaze on his mouth, roving over his face and throat, before lifting to impale him. Colin’s tongue darting out again, and they were close now, a few inches apart maybe, no more – so close that Bradley could hear the slight smack as Colin’s moistened lips met and parted, and soon – soon they would meet his, those pretty pretty lips, and –

Bradley hadn’t moved a muscle, hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash in all that time, but now in a sudden surge of needy impatience he swivelled around on the wooden seat, and pressed forward, mouth hungry, and –

and –

 _‘Whoa!’_ Colin cried, standing up and backing off a pace in a wild flurry of limbs, a chair crashing over.

Raucous laughter from the group of idiots down Colin’s end of the table, an assortment of cast and crew who were so _not_ on Bradley’s Christmas card list any more.

‘Bradley…’ Colin murmured in wonder, looking down at him with eyes wide and sinful mouth parted. ‘You know… I didn’t think I’d fool you for a minute.’

‘Bradley wins!’ Big J announced with some satisfaction. ‘Drinks are on you, Colin.’

‘Huh,’ said Bradley. _Gay chicken_ , he surmised. He should be glad he’d been fooled, he supposed. Cos that meant he’d won.

‘I didn’t think you’d go for it…’ Colin was still staring down at him, confused. Taken aback.

Bradley shrugged irritably. Turned his face away. He certainly didn’t _feel_ like he’d won.

‘I’m going to the bar,’ said Big J. ‘Give me your wallet, Morgan, if you’re gonna just stand there like an eejit.’

‘Um, sure,’ Colin muttered, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, and handing it over. Well, they trusted these people with life, limb and honest emotion each and every day. What did cash and credit matter?

Bradley made a break for it while Colin’s attention was elsewhere; he was at the door by the time Colin looked back around for him, and then out into the safety of the cool night.

 _‘Bradley!’_ he heard vaguely.

But the noise of the pub soon receded into the night, soon there was nothing but the stars twinkling, which he’d always sworn made glittery music, no matter what his Mum said – and he could draw breath again, he could _breathe_ … His heart began to calm again, his heart began to slowly shrink back down to its accustomed size.

‘Bradley.’

He gulped air, and even the stars went quiet – but he turned around to face the man. His friend. His co–star. Colin. ‘Mmm,’ Bradley observed noncommittally.

Colin was uncertain now, a bit shamefaced. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders were hunched as if nervous. ‘Look, Bradley. I didn’t think –’

That gaze flicking up to his face, skittering away, but then drawn back again as if Colin couldn’t help himself, he had to _know_. Bradley stood there, not moving, his hands hanging loose at his sides.

‘Bradley, I guess I –’

He was drawing close again, edgy and uncertain, his dark gaze liquid now, and Bradley stood there. Waiting. _Huh_ , he thought, carefully examining his every instinct, his every reaction, his every thought. He was calm, and his heart beat strong again, and his spider–sense was quiet.

‘Bradley, uh – if you –’

‘Come ’ere,’ said Bradley. And he stepped forward. And he lifted his hands to that pretty pretty face, and he _kissed_ the man.

♦


End file.
